THE ESSENCE OF "CRITICAL RACE THEORY”

Well ahead of the 2022 election cycle, our culture wars are already intensifying. One of the not-so-subtle political dog whistles permeating partisan bickering focuses on what is referred to as "Critical Race Theory" (CRT), which relatively recently morphed from an obscure academic discussion point on the left into a political rallying cry on the right. The concept theorizes that racism is not just demonstrated acts of individual bias or prejudice, but is rather embedded in our institutions, policies and legal systems. In short, it suggests that it is systemic. During the 1970s, legal scholars, activists and lawyers, frustrated with the limitations of the civil-rights movement, tried to understand why civil-rights-era victories had stalled and were being eroded. They were exasperated by traditional civil-rights discussions, which predicted that racism would stop once we stop thinking about race. In other words, ignore skin color in everything and the problem of racism will eventually disappear. Acknowledging this incrementalist approach, a growing number of them banned together and developed a coherent framework within which to confront our history of race and racism, and provide us with the ability to think about present-day implications. In light of last year's police killing of George Floyd, 240 other African Americans and 159 Hispanic Americans, parents and educators grappled with the question of how to handle conversations about race and racism in schools. "Critical Race Theory" provided an available academic framework within which to pursue this effort. Politicians and conservative pundits quickly latched onto the concept, arguing that its teachings are un-American, in spite of the fact that there is very little evidence that it is actually being taught to K-12 public school students. In many classrooms the subject never even comes up.However, facts don't matter in today's political environment. CRT opponents now use the term as a catch-all phrase for virtually all examinations of systemic racism. Opponents have argued that "Critical Race Theory" is a Marxist framework that suggests that our nation is inherently evil and that white people should feel guilty for their skin color. More than two dozen states have passed or introduced bills that aim to stymie educational discussions about race, racism and systemic oppression in the U.S. The Florida law specifically stipulates that educators cannot teach "Critical Race Theory." The GOP-controlled legislature in Tennessee passed a sweeping law banning educators from discussing racism, sexism, bias and other social issues with students altogether. Some bills explicitly prevent the teaching of the New York Times' "1619 project," which was launched in August of 2019, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the English colony of Virginia. Its aim was to place the consequences of slavery and the contributions of African-Americans at the very center of our national narrative. And Senators Tom Cotton, Marsha Blackburn and Mitch McConnell recently reintroduced the "Saving American History Act," which would block federal funds to schools teaching about this project. Overall, the mantra seems to be that the subject is divisive, and that it is even racist to examine the role of race in U.S. systems and structures. That doing so would teach kids to hate their country and to hate each other. Academic supporters of the concept suggest that there is nothing in "Critical Race Theory" that promotes any of the adverse consequences critics are blaming it for. Kimberle Crenshaw, law professor at the UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School, a founding CRT theorist, admonishes that: "When you're really serious about addressing a problem, the last thing you do is punish people for building the tools to see the problem, to analyze the problem and to develop the capacity to remove the problem. "Critical Race Theory" is not a coherent school of thought. It is simply an effort to confront our history of race and racism and to give us the capacity to think about its implications." During a different time, it was political scientist and U.S. National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who argued that the term "war on terror" was intended to deliberately generate a culture of fear, because it "obscures reason, intensifies emotions and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue." We could draw a direct parallel to the situation today, given that we are involved in a culture war, and that a significant slice of the electorate has no clue about the essence of "Critical Race Theory," other than what their manipulators suggest. We have to assume that the application of this political dog whistle is solely intended to elicit fear and mobilize constituents in advance of next year's elections. Theo Wierdsma